Reflections on 2010

I know, I know I've been slacking; maybe one of my New Year's resolutions will be to ACTUALLY blog every day...maybe. Still, I started this little hobby in September and am pretty happy with how many times I've posted and the feedback I've gotten so far! Naturally, my final blog of 2010 will be a reflection. Looking back on what has undoubtedly been the best year of my life!

Chronologically:

1. January 29th, 2010 - My 21st birthday. Oh my god. From what I remember, it was epic. A great time out with close friends, my first time at the bars, and (relatives cringe now) waking up cuddling with the toilet instead of my girlfriend. It all added up to make for a very memorable, ridiculous, extremely fun birthday. I feel as if I definitely lived it up, as it should be. My favorite story from that night was actually told to me because I was...imbibed by then...but apparently outside the bar, I calmly told my friend Laurissa "I'm going to your house now. I'm going to go throw up in your bathroom," and proceeded to start walking the complete opposite direction from her house. Luckily she sent me the right way, leading to my hug-fest with the toilet. A crazy night, to say the least.

2. January 31st, 2010 - JUNO! Something people might not know about our pursuit of Juno (well, if you don't know already, Juno is our house puppy at Washington State!) is that it started with a random dog following Garrett home one day from class. We named her Sophie and kept her for a couple days until we located her owners. That kind of sparked the desire to actually have a puppy, and so I found some Aussie Shepherd/Border Collie puppies on Craigslist in December of 2009 and one short month later we were bringing little "Uno" home. Of course, we didn't want to keep the old name so we went out on a limb and made a big change to "Juno." I can't tell you how awesome it has been to come home from class every day at school and have Juno jumping all over me and constantly being excited to play and run around. I highly recommend getting a dog to all college students, it legitimately lowers stress levels on a daily basis!

3. Mid-March, 2010 - Spring Break in La Penita, Mexico. I went to Mexico with two roommates, my girlfriend (at the time) and two of her good friends (all 6 of us were already friends, though). We spent a week at the beach, in downtown Puerto Vallarta, eating authentic Mexican food, etc. It was a lot of fun, and it was especially cool because we were staying in an actual local house in an actual little Mexican town. There are far too many quotes and memories to reflect on from that trip, but my two favorites are as follows: First, we went on a "booze cruise" one day, which basically consisted of a ferry boat ride (free drinks!) to a snorkeling spot, then a stop for lunch on the beach and a horseback ride up to a swimming hole and waterfall, then the ride back with more free drinks and karaoke. And second, of course, was..."Bear? No, gracias. BEAR!" I can only hope Matt, Garrett, Jaime, Breanna or Kayla read this so SOMEBODY knows what that means...

4. Mid-May to Mid-June, 2010 - Six-week summer session in Pullman. I took three classes for the first summer session up at school, and it was so much fun. I had never experienced a Pullman summer, but just the fact that it was different than winter was something to be celebrated. It was really warm, there were a ton of people there, and I spent a lot of time hanging out OUTSIDE with them.

5. August 8th, 2010 - Rafting Cherry Creek. I work at All-Outdoors, a whitewater rafting company, every summer. There is everything from Class I (easiest) to Class V. I had rafted everything over the last three years, but never took on the mamma jamma of them all. Cherry Creek is actually the upper portion of the Tuolumne River and is just constant Class V's. I'd rafted a few class V rapids on other big rivers before, but never anything like this. There is a Miracle Mile section on the river which is five straight Class V rapids with hardly any time in between, and they were all HUGE rapids! It was unbelievably fun and horrifying and amazing, and I can't wait to do it again next summer!

6. November 1st, 2010 - SF Giants win the World Series. This is painful to put on my list. I hate the Giants more than anything in the world. The fact that they are World Champions still kills me. Hence, why it is one of my major reflections of 2010. Between this and the 49ers being a massive letdown, it was an awful, no-good year for sports as far as I'm concerned. It really couldn't have gotten worse!

7. December 12th, 2010 - http://jamblin-man.blogspot.com/2010/12/tribute-to-uncle-pete.html. My Dad's brother, Pete passed away. He will be greatly missed and always loved. Click the link for a full tribute that I wrote about a week ago.

8. Late August to Mid-December, 2010 - First semester senior year, in general. I know this is a very broad category, but it was the best way to do it. I discovered Rico's, Taco Tuesday, ways to have a ton of fun any night of the week at school. I met a ton of new, awesome people and I plan on staying in touch with most of them for a very long time. I can't even describe how much fun I had meeting people, partying, and just hanging out in general these last four months. It's senior year, and it's setting in that I might come back to California after this Spring and not see all the great friends I've made for quite some time. That being said, I've honestly tried to go out, do something fun and meet people at every single opportunity. Despite 18 credits this coming semester, I plan on doing the same thing again. Get ready, Pullman. Get ready.

Overall, this was definitely the most crazy, fun, memorable year of my life. BUT, 2011 is going to be even better. Last semester in Pullman, New Orleans for Spring Break, Semester-at-Sea...it's going to be a great time. I can't wait to live it up again and I'm even a little bit excited to graduate and be a full-time adult. Here's to a great 2010 and looking forward to an even greater 2011! Thanks to everyone who made this year what it was...you know who you are!